Dodgers News: Shelby Miller’s Neck Issue ‘A Little Worse’ Than Realized

Another blow to the Dodgers bullpen...

The Dodgers bullpen has gone through many injuries so far in 2023. It seems like the team is consistently getting injury news and they got dealt another blow to the pen on Friday. It was announced that veteran relief pitcher Shelby Miller would be out even longer than initially thought. He has been dealing with a neck injury and will now need extra time to recover.

Asked if the neck injury that sent him to IL was a little worse than inflammation, #Dodgers RHP Shelby Miller said, “Yeah, the MRI came back with a little more,” but he declined to go into specifics. Timeline still the same. Will probably be out for about a month.

— Mike DiGiovanna (@MikeDiGiovanna) June 24, 2023

Miller had been one of the bright spots for the Dodgers bullpen this season, holding an ERA of 2.40 over 30 innings pitched. He has also added in 32 strikeouts during that time. 

Losing him for more time just means that the Dodgers will now need to look elsewhere for help. Miller spoke on the issue:

“I’ve had neck stiffness in the past, like in Spring Training I missed a couple days from throwing. But this is a little bit more, I wouldn’t say severe, but worse than what that is,” he clarified.“It’s a little worse than we thought, but we’ll just keep it at that,” Miller said.

This is a little concerning for the Dodgers as Miller has dealt with injury issues in the past. But the team is hopeful that he will be able to rejoin them as the season goes on. 

Luckily for them, fellow reliever Daniel Hudson made his long awaited return to the team on Friday night against the Kansas City Royals. This should provide some help for a bullpen that has had issues all year long. 

Here's to hoping that Miller comes back even stronger and can be a real asset for the Dodgers both at the end of the year and in the postseason if they can make it there.